


On the Line

by dazzling_icer (centz)



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-09
Updated: 2012-01-09
Packaged: 2017-10-29 06:30:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/316764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/centz/pseuds/dazzling_icer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noah is an unlucky-in-love ad executive who meets a mysterious stranger on the El train in Chicago, but leaves without getting his name or number. Tired of never taking risks in his love life, Noah and his friends hang up posters all over the city to help Noah find his mystery man.</p><p>Based on the film "On the Line" starring Lance Bass and Joey Fatone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Line

Noah plopped down on the nearest empty seat and sighed. Work was excruciatingly long today, and it seemed as if his overly eccentric boss rode him extra hard than normal. He just couldn’t wait to get home and relax for the rest of the night.

 _Casey and his band has a gig at Marco’s tonight, remember? You promised the guys that you would go with them…_

Noah sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. He loved his friends to death, but that didn’t stop him from immediately running through excuses in his head to get out of it.

 _Tell them I have to work on the new commercial…no, they would never fall for that. I don’t have editing equipment at home. Fake an illness? No, I talked to Gabe earlier today, he would know I was lying. Tell them I had a miserable day at work and I just need a night to relax and forget about it? The guys would say a night out was just what I needed._

He ran his hands through his hair, knowing that getting out of hanging with the guys tonight was impossible. He rummaged through his messenger bag for his iPod and headphones, hoping that music would drown out his thoughts. He popped the buds in his ears, and then set the bag on the empty seat next to him.

The soulful voice of Al Green quickly fluttered through his ears. He didn’t know what it was about The Reverend that helped calm his mind so much, but he was grateful for it every time. And today was no different.

Soon the tune to “I’m So Tired of Being Alone” wrapped around his senses and he was completely lost in the song. It was one of his favorites. His head started subconsciously swaying to the rhythm, and his feet soon followed. He held his eyes closed tightly as he concentrated on the song, and hummed the lyrics along with Al.

After a few moments the chorus rang through his ears, and something in Noah completely forgot where he was. To him, he was alone in his own little world with no one but Al Green and his healing music to accompany him. He was hit with the sudden urge to sing out loud.

“ _I’m so tired of being alone, I’m so tired of on-my-own, won’t you help me girl just as soon as you can!_ ” Noah stopped, and opened his eyes. He quickly realized he was standing in the middle of The El, unknowingly serenading the other passengers on the train…out loud. People from his entire compartment were staring at him, probably wondering if he needed them to call the local mental institution because he suddenly lost his mind.

“I-I’m sorry,” he said, as his cheeks flushed bright red. He quickly sunk back down in his seat, hoping that the train would just spit him right out and he would never have to show his face in society again. He removed his headphones, not wanting to be caught in another embarrassing moment, and just stared at his feet. He couldn’t wait to get off this train.

Noah was continuing to stare off for a few more moments, before a sound broke through his thoughts.

“I can’t get next to you.”

The voice was soft, and at first, Noah barely knew if he had even heard anything at all. He slowly looked up from his feet, and saw a young blond man standing over him, smiling.

“Umm…what?”

“’I’m So Tired of Being Alone’ is a wonderful Al Green song, but ‘I Can’t Get Next to You’ seems a bit more fitting right now.”

“And…why is that?” Noah cocked his eyebrow at the man.

“Because! I can’t get next to you!” The stranger motioned toward the seat next to him, which was currently occupied by his work bag.

“OH! I’m sorry!” Noah quickly moved his bag and set it on his lap. The man smiled at him again, and finally sat next to him, muttering a polite thank you. They sat unspeaking for a few more moments, before the blond broke the silence.

“So, I enjoyed your performance,” he laughed lightly.

“Oh, umm…thanks, I guess,” Noah told him, the heat returning to his face. “Al Green helps me clear my head. I guess it’s just a mental thing…”

“Yeah? I hear he’s playing at the Opera House in two weeks,” the blond told him matter-of-factly. “Maybe he’s looking for an opening act?”

“Do you like The Reverend?” Noah asked him.

“Well,” the blond laughed. “My mother used to play ‘Love and Happiness’ to me while she rocked me to sleep when I was a baby. I think he’s definitely a part of my being.”

Noah stared at the young man while he answered him. He was gorgeous, to put it simply. But there was definitely nothing simple about him. His hair was a mixture between messy and perfect, and his smile seemed to make his dark brown eyes even lighter. His stomach did a somersault as he took in his features, something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

More silence followed, and Noah finally found the nerve to continue the conversation.

“So…what do you do besides approach strange men on The El?” The stranger laughed heartily before answering.

“Well, I go to grad school.”

“Oh yeah? What do you study?”

“Journalism,” the blond answered, still with that gorgeous smile on his face. “What do YOU do, besides serenade strange people on The El? Oh wait…let me guess. You…work for a production company.”

Noah’s eyes widened, and then he smiled.

“Now, how in the world did you know that?” The stranger laughed at him before looking down and tapping the bag on his lap.

“It is stitched on your bag,” he cleverly told him, before looking away and laughing again. Noah looked down and sure enough, his company’s name and logo was neatly stitched into the material. “So what do you do at this production company of yours?”

“Umm, I direct,” Noah told him, almost shyly. “Mostly short films and instructional videos. But I’ve also done several commercials.”

“Oh yeah? Have you done anything I might have seen?”

“Oh, I don’t know…umm,” Noah trailed off, thinking back on some of his previous commercials. “I directed that Produce Fresh commercial from a few months back.”

“No way!” the stranger said excitedly, almost turning in his seat. “The one where all of the children are walking through the supermarket and singing about the foods they want their parents to buy them?”

“Uhh, yeah…that was me,” Noah admitted, ducking his head and running a hand through his hair. “I actually helped write and direct that.”

“That’s really cool! I had that song stuck in my head for weeks! It was so catchy!” the man laughed. “Actually, one time when I was at Illustrator’s Express, I started singing it and people were giving me weird looks…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Noah stopped him, now turning to face him in the seat. “You go to Illustrator’s Express? You like comic books?”

“Hell yes! I grew up reading them with my brother!”

“Awesome!” Noah exclaimed, smiling like a huge geek. “Okay, okay…what is your best and worst comic book moment?”

“Okay, worst…whenever they bring back characters for no reason at all!” the blond said, slightly rolling his eyes. “And best… _Captain America_ vol. 5 where…”

“…Captain America dies!” Noah finished for him, obvious giddiness and excitement in his voice. “That was such a great moment…”

“…I know! It was awesome! As much as I loved it, that didn’t stop me from being completely torn up about it…”

“I cried.”

The blond just looked at Noah, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Okay,” he began, giggling slightly. “Most guys, would not admit that…to complete strangers or otherwise.”

“Uhh…yeah,” Noah said softly, the previous heat returning to his cheeks. “I really don’t know why I just told you that…”

Just then, an announcement for the next stop was echoed throughout the train. The blond quickly glanced at the brunet, before looking back down at his lap.

“Umm, that’s my stop,” he told him, and Noah detected a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

“It’s mine, too,” Noah told him, rising from his seat. When the train came to a stop, Noah followed the stranger out of the compartment. They fell into step with each other as they continued to make their way along the platform. Noah was desperate to keep their conversation going, he hadn’t felt this kind of connection to someone in a very long time.

“So, tell me something you would only tell a stranger,” Noah requested, excited to hear what the blond would reveal to him.

“Well,” the stranger began to say, as they started to climb the stairs to cross the passage to the other side of the platform. “I love to people watch. Sometimes I will sit somewhere for hours, just watching people and coming up with stories for them off the top of my head. For instance…”

The blond suddenly stopped on the bridge, overlooking the people on both sides of the platform. His brown eyes were busy scanning the crowd for a perfect subject. Noah just watched him expectantly.

“So, am I gonna get a little demonstration?” Noah asked him, slightly teasing him. The man’s eyes continued to search while his mouth grew into a bright smile.

“Yeah…a little demonstration…” he said, teasing right back. Suddenly, his eyes found the perfect candidate…a story began forming already. “Okay, so do you see that man down there in the black trench coat? The one who is hugging his briefcase tightly to his chest?”

Noah’s eyes followed to the spot that the blond was pointing to, and locked eyes on the man. He looked extremely nervous about something, and couldn’t keep his body still.

“Yeah, I see him.”

“Well,” the blond began, his voice changing to reflect a reader’s inflection. “That man owes a debt to a big Chicagoan crime lord, and is currently being blackmailed into having an affair. He desperately wants to pay off his debt so he can stop cheating on his wife, but, as it turns out, his wife is currently sick with a very rare form of blood disease. So, while trying to right his wrongs, he also has to worry about paying his wife’s expensive medical bills, leading to a huge conflict between his mind and his heart. Currently, he is carrying a suitcase full of his next payment to the crime lord’s crony, and is waiting for him to show to make the drop off.”

“Wow,” Noah told him when his made-up story was finished. “I can see the movie playing out in my head as we speak.”

“Oh, yeah?” the blond smiled at Noah’s comment. “And are you going to be directing this future masterpiece?”

“Only if you write the screenplay.”

Noah’s voice was just above a whisper, and both boys caught the change in mood. They continued to stand on the overpass, gazing at each other with shy smiles, until the announcement of the incoming train broke the spell.

“I have to catch the connecting train,” the blond announced, and Noah once again detected a hint of sadness. Noah’s heart ached, he wasn’t ready to be away from this man yet.

“Yeah…” Noah responded lamely. What was it about this man that caused him to lose all coherency? “Well, listen…it was a pleasure…commuting with you.”

Noah watched the stranger smile at him before he glanced over to where his train was going to be arriving. He looked back at Noah, and then down at his feet. It was almost as if he was trying to draw out the moment for as long as possible.

The brunet felt the hint of expectancy in the air, but he was too caught up gazing at the blond to realize anything. But he knew that this couldn’t last forever, and that in any moment, the stranger would be leaving.

“Well…” Noah finally heard the blond say, and then pause, as if he was waiting for Noah to do or say something. But the taller man must have never gotten the memo. He just remained quiet. “…bye.”

The blond turned and began to walk away to the other set of stairs that led to his platform. As he was about to descend them, he turned around and shot Noah a smile and another chance. But Noah just continued to look at him. The blond sighed and gave one final wave before turning around and not looking back.

When the blond was finally out of his line of vision, the mysterious spell was broken, and the consequences of his actions hit Noah like a ton of bricks.

 _Shit…_

+++++

“Okay, okay…let me get this straight,” Casey was saying to him, slightly tipsy from the couple of beers he had already consumed. “So you meet this guy on the train, you talk to him for a while, then the train stops, he gets up to leave, and what do you say?”

“I said ‘it was a pleasure commuting with you’.”

“’ _It was a pleasure commuting with you_ ’?!” Casey repeated incredulously. “You didn’t get his name, his digits, no fingerprints, no place of business…no anything?!”

“Yes, Case, okay!” Noah answered, shouting above the loud noises of the crowded bar. “I just froze!” Upon hearing this, Gabe revealed himself behind the book he was reading, and cocked his eyebrow at his friend.

“Again?”

“Man, you need some help…” Casey confessed, frustratingly hitting his palm to his forehead. Noah rolled his eyes at him, wondering why he even decided to tell his friends about the man in the first place.

“Shouldn’t you be up on stage kicking amps or whatever, instead of sitting here reminding me of all of my past romantic failures?”

“Eh, I told the band to take five,” Casey waved off his question. “Besides, I’m just saying that it’s not the end of the world. You can once again learn from your mistakes.”

“But guys, he was different,” Noah revealed to them, starting to get a far off look in his eyes as he spoke. “I mean…he was incredible! You know…it’s embarrassing when everyone knows you as the guy who always chokes…”

“Well, then maybe you should get off your butt and do something about it!” Gabe told him, setting his book down on the table and grabbing a handful of peanuts from the bucket.

“And how am I supposed to do that, Gabe?” Noah questioned, obvious doubt in his voice. “I have no idea where to even begin to look for him. What, do you think I should put an ad up on Craig’s List or something?”

“Well, it would be a start!” Casey argued. “At least then you will be doing something! Instead of wallowing in your own self pity because you are too scared.”

“Hey! I am not wallowing! And I am _not_ scared!”

“You are too, Noah!” Gabe told him, leaning forward on the table to stare into his friend’s eyes. “You are way too scared to put yourself out there and take a chance! Why do you think you took a career behind the camera instead of in front of it?”

Noah opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it when he realized he didn’t have a counterpoint. Gabe and Casey were right…he was afraid to take a chance. He never took a chance on anything, and in the rare moments when he built up enough courage to actually do something, he always froze. He was, to put it simply, a complete loser when it came to love.

But something in the stranger he met today made him feel different. Sure he froze at the time, but now sitting here looking back on his most recent mistake, he felt a particular turning in his insides. It made him angry. He was infuriated with himself that he let the blond get away. He needed to do something this time…he needed to fix this.

“So what should I do?” Noah asked them almost pleadingly. Gabe and Casey looked at each other, and then back to their friend. They could see the resentment in his eyes, and could tell that he really regretted his previous actions…or lack thereof.

Finally, after a few moments of silence, Casey leaned forward on their table with a big smile on his face.

“I think I have an idea…”

+++++

ARE YOU HIM?

We met on the El.  
We talked about Al Green and comic books.  
My name is NOAH,  
And my number is:  
586-8823

Following Casey’s advice, Noah, with the help of his friends, hung up posters all over Chicago. He rode the whole route of the El one afternoon, putting up signs at every stop, and Gabe and Casey hit up the college campuses in the city, hoping that one of them was the school that that blond attended. Noah also stopped by Illustrator’s Express, remembering how the blond said he shopped for his comic books there.

After treating his friends to an early dinner for helping him with the posters, the three friends arrived back to their apartment and all plopped down on the nearest sitting surface of the living room. Noah was exhausted, he had never been all over the city in such a short amount of time.

“Thanks again for helping me, guys…it really means a lot of me.”

“No problem, man,” Casey sighed. “But all I have to say is that this guy better call. If I find out that I put up all of those posters and wandered around the city all day for nothing, me and my incredibly sore feet are gonna flip out.”

“Yeah…I really hope he calls, too…”

“Don’t worry, you guys,” Gabe chimed in. “He’s going to call…”

As if on cue, the distinct sound of their telephone began to ring. Feeling suddenly energized, Noah jumped over the side of the couch and ran to the phone.

“Hello?”

+++++

He was dreaming…he had to be. Things like this just don’t happen in the conscious world. Random, insane men don’t call people out of the blue claiming to be someone else…specifically claiming to be his destined lover.

No, that only happened in dreams…the nightmarish kind.

Yet there Noah sat, very much in reality, across from Zac, a guy who looked like he had ransacked the entire contents of the local Hot Topic. His dark hair and dull eyes were so far off from the man he met on the train. He was taller, perhaps a little more muscular, and, to put it lightly, a complete freak. At this moment, he had his hands out in front of him, moving his fingers around, and murmuring muffled noises from his mouth. Zac said he was going to “channel the spirit world” and wanted to ask the spirits about their chemistry. Noah didn’t know if he wanted to laugh at him or run away.

Noah silently wondered how he had gotten into this mess. When he put up those posters to try and find the stranger, he never once took into consideration the phony people who might call for whatever reason. And now he was sitting here, at a small diner, across from Mr. Warped Tour ’09, kicking himself for being so careless. He knew he sounded different on the phone. He had to find out this guy’s motives.

“Look,” he said politely, interrupting the man from his weird séance thing he was doing. “I don’t mean to be rude, but…why are you here?” The man dropped his hands and opened his eyes, a slight mischievous smile on his face.

“When I saw your poster, I just knew I had to meet you,” he confessed, leaning closer to Noah from across the table and grabbing one of his hands. “I could just tell that we would have a cosmic connection.”

“You were able to figure that out from a poster?” he asked him skeptically. Zac didn’t answer at first, instead grabbing Noah’s hand in both of his and beginning to caress them. Noah watched uncomfortably as the man closed his eyes and began to hum, a sort of sick, satisfied smile on his face.

“Yes,” he sighed, his eyes flickering behind their closed lids. He turned Noah’s hand around between his own and gently caressed them with his finger tips. “Let me guess…you’re a water sign!”

“Uh, no,” Noah said shortly, momentarily stunned by this man’s actions. Zac quickly let go of Noah’s hand and brought both of his hands to Noah’s face. He closed his eyes and began to feel all over Noah’s head: tracing the outline of his jaw, pinching his cheeks, and seemingly trying to measure the symmetry of his features.

“Hmm…” he hummed, as his hands explored. “Ah-ha! Virgo!” he suddenly shouted, both of his palms pressing against both sides of Noah’s lips so they were arranged in a puckering shape.

“Uh-uh,” Noah shook his head, now completely appalled at this man’s actions. He needed to get out of here.

“Oh…” Zac said, sitting back in his chair disappointingly. Just then, the waiter came to their table and set down their respective plates. Noah was grateful, and also determined to eat this meal faster than he’s ever eaten in his life. Sickness be damned.

“Do you gentlemen need anything else?” the waiter asked them.

“No, thank you,” Noah told him. The waiter nodded at him and then left to go serve his other tables.

“You know, Noah,” Zac started again, picking up his fork. “Astrology is actually full of…SHIT!”

“What?”

“PORK! Get his away from me!” Zac practically screamed as he threw his silverware down and shoved the plate away toward Noah. “Get this away!”

“Whoa! Whoa!” Noah told him. He was trying hard not to laugh at this man’s total freak out over a silly piece of meat. It was his fault though, as Noah remembered how he closed his eyes and took a stab at the menu, saying the stars would guide his food choice. “Calm down, man…pork happens.”

“Don’t patronize me!” Zac screamed again, pointing a finger in Noah’s face.

“Excuse me?”

“What do you take me for, some kind of freak?!”

“Well, you did call me out of the blue from a poster…”

“That’s because I thought we had a connection, Noah! A cosmic connection!” At this point, Zac gathered his coat and abruptly stood up from the table. “And I thought you’d be different. But you’re not. You’re just the same…all of you! And I don’t have to take this!”

And with that, he stormed off, and Noah was left alone wondering what he did in a previous life to deserve _that_.

+++++

“I’m telling you guys, he was a nightmare!”

“So it wasn’t the guy you met on the train?” Casey asked him.

“No!” Noah shouted, pacing frustratingly throughout the living room of the apartment the three of them shared. “He wasn’t even close! He was a total weirdo, and kept saying odd things about how he called me because the stars told him we would have a cosmic connection or something!”

“Well, maybe you should have listened to him, you never know…” Noah gave Casey his patented death look, and the musician quickly forgot that thought. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. I’m just extremely frustrated. I just really want to find him…”

“We know, we know!” Casey rolled his eyes. “You won’t shut up about him. I’m starting to wonder if he’s even real or if you just made him up in your mind or something…”

“He’s real, Case!” Noah argued, plopping down on the end of the sofa. “I’m not making this up! And that guy today at the diner, definitely wasn’t him and he had no reason to call in the first place!”

“Look, Noah,” Gabe said, putting his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “This was just the first call, and we only put the posters up yesterday! A ton of posters! This guy is bound to find one of them and call you.”

“I know…but what am I gonna do about the people who call anyway? What if I have to go on a million dates with random guys until then?”

Gabe was about to respond when the sound of their phone ringing gathered their attention. Casey was the closest to the receiver, so he quickly grabbed the black phone and answered it.

“Talk to me…what?...no way!...Are you for real?...Hang on…Noah! There is this guy here on the phone from the paper! He found one of your posters and wants to do an interview with you!”

“What?” Noah asked Casey in a whisper. “No way!”

“But wait, Noah,” Gabe interjected. “This could be a great PR move for you!”

“Guys, I am not doing an interview!”

“It’ll help you find him…”

Noah’s eyes met Casey’s at his words, and then looked at Gabe. Gabe was nodding in agreement, and Casey’s eyes looked at him pleadingly. Deep down, Noah knew it would help. But once again his own insecurities were getting in the way of him making the decision to go the extra mile for once and cross his own boundaries. He had already told himself that when it came to the stranger, he would lay it all out on the line.

“Okay,” Noah sighed. “I’ll do it.”

+++++

Gabe sat down on the sofa in his living room and sighed. He threw the newspaper onto the coffee table and ran his hands through his hair.

Two weeks straight of articles and still no sign of Noah’s mystery man. Sure, they were up to their chins in phone calls, but all of them were from random guys who just claimed to be the blond. He started to feel bad for his best friend. He knew Noah hated all of this attention, but he was secretly glad that he was toughing it out all for love. After watching him completely mess up his previous attempts at love, it made him proud to see Noah finally take charge and go for it. And he would happily do anything to help him find his mystery man.

The sound of a phone ringing cut through his thoughts. He routinely picked up the black receiver and brought it to his ear.

“Hello?”

 _“Noah?”_

The name sounded tentative and small, and he didn’t recognize the voice.

“Umm, no, this is Gabe. Noah’s roommate,” he explained. “Can I help you?”

 _“Is Noah there?”_

“I’m sorry, but Noah is at work right now. Can I help you with something?”

 _“Well, actually…I don’t really know how to say this, but, it’s me…the guy from the train.”_

Gabe sat up straight against the sofa and furrowed his eyebrows. He had heard this all before.

“Oh, sure you are…so are all of the others,” he said sarcastically.

 _“Excuse me?”_

“I’m sorry, but, we’ve been getting phony calls for weeks now, and as Noah’s best friend, I’m sick of seeing him get his hopes up. So how can I be sure it’s really you and not just some random guy wanting to get laid?”

The man on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment. Gabe smiled as he thought about how he had just caught this man in a lie, and was about to hang up on him when the man spoke again.

 _“I’m not lying…it is me. Ask me anything.”_

The strong confidence and determination in his voice amused Gabe, and he was willing to play along. Thinking back to what Noah had told him of the conversation they had shared on the train, he thought of questions.

“What does Noah do for a living?”

 _“He works for a production company. I can’t remember the name at the mom…”_

“Anyone would know that if they have read the articles,” Gabe interrupted.

 _“I didn’t have to read the articles to know that_ ,” the voice huffed. “ _When I saw the logo on his bag on the train…”_

“Wait, what did you say?” Gabe asked suddenly.

 _“I said I saw the logo of Noah’s company on his navy blue messenger bag,_ ” he sighed, wishing that this guy would finally believe him. _“I guessed that he worked for a production company after I told him that I went to grad school to study journalism.”_

Gabe hung his mouth open. This man knew about Noah’s work bag, the exact color of it, too. He remembered the story Noah told him about how the blond had tricked him into believing that he guessed his occupation, only to reveal that he saw it stitched on his bag. No one else would know that. Gabe’s heart started racing…this had to be the guy! But still…

 _“Hello? Are you still there?”_

“Uhh, yeah! Sorry,” Gabe breathed, relief apparent in his voice. “I just…how did you know that?”

 _“What do you mean?”_

“How did you know about Noah’s bag?” he heard the man on the phone sigh heavily before he answered.

“I already told you…he had the bag with him on the train. He had it sitting next to him on the seat, and I kind of dorkily approached him and…”

“…quoted Al Green.” The man on the other end of the phone laughed heartily at the memory.

 _“Yeah…I knew he would get it after the little performance he gave everyone.”_

Gabe gasped, and his heart started to speed up in excitement. Noah was so embarrassed about that part of the story, that he made it a point to leave it out of his interviews. In fact, Gabe wasn’t sure if anyone but Casey and himself knew about that little incident…one that they teased him relentlessly about ever since.

“I-It’s you.”

 _“Huh?”_

“It’s you…your him!”

 _“Look…maybe I should just call later when Noah is there…”_

“No! Wait!” Gabe half shouted into the phone. He finally had Noah’s man in his grasp, and he wasn’t about to let him go that easily. “Listen to me…I have an idea…”

+++++

Papers were strewn all over his desk, and Noah was frantically searching for his ringing phone. His usually pleasant sounding ring tone became increasingly more annoying as he pushed folders aside and lifted up binders. As if this day wasn’t hectic enough already…

He had a mock-up due to his boss in two hours, and he was really starting to feel the pressure. His lost phone wasn’t helping, as the constant ringing was now seemingly laughing in his face as he failed to find the small advice. He was going to just give up and worry about it later, letting voicemail take care of it. But after a few more times consecutively going off, he figured that someone must really be trying to get a hold of him.

When he finally found the darn thing, he flipped over the covering and brought it to his face.

“Mayer.”

 _“FINALLY, Noah! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for forever!”_

“Gabe…you know I’m always really busy at work…”

 _“I know, and I’m sorry. But dude, forget about that now…I have to tell you what just happened…”_

“Mayer!” Noah looked up from his desk and watched as his boss strolled through the open door of his office and stood right in front of him.

“Sir?” Noah gave him his attention, his cell phone still at his face, and Gabe’s voice in his ear.

 _“So, the man from the train just called, Noah…and it was HIM! I’m positive…”_

“Mayer, I just got off the phone with corporate. They have seen your recent work, and they are really interested in meeting you.”

“Are you serious?” Noah asked, completely forgetting about his best friend on the phone.

 _“Yes, Noah, I’m serious! It was definitely him! And, listen…I made arrangements for you guys…”_

“Yes, indeed!” his boss continued. “They would like to get together with you tonight for dinner and discuss your current project. If you ask me, Mayer, I think they are interested in promoting you!”

 _“You guys are going to meet at Café de Love at 8pm. I told him that you would be there…”_

“That sounds really great!” Noah told his boss, still oblivious to his friend.

“Yes, well, we are meeting them tonight at 7:30 at Regina’s. Got it?”

 _“Is that okay with you, Noah?”_

“Yes,” Noah answered.

 _“ALRIGHT! Well, gotta get going, Noah…good luck, man!”_

“Very good,” his boss said, slapping his shoulder with his hand. “See you tonight…and I still need that mock-up on my desk in two.”

Noah watched his boss leave his office, and sighed as he spun his desk chair around to face his desk again. It was then that he realized that he was still holding his cell phone to his ear.

“Gabe? Gabe, man…you still there?”

When he received no answer, he shrugged and flipped his phone shut. He set the object down clearly in the open this time, and hastily began to finish up his mock-up.

+++++

He was nervous. He couldn’t remember a time in his entire life where his nerves had flared up this badly. But he welcomed the feeling. The slight chills and fluttering in his chest that came from thinking about him were a very pleasant change from the constant loneliness he usually felt.

Any moment now, the man he met on the train…Noah, that was his name…was going to walk through the door to the restaurant, and they would see each other again. They could continue the magic that he felt with him that day. He felt so comfortable with him, and he had probably smiled more in those five minutes he spent with Noah, than he had in the past five months combined.

But then he turned to go, and Noah didn’t stop him. He had hesitated, hoping that he would ask him his name and say he wanted to see him again. But he didn’t…he just watched him go. When he made it to his connecting train he started kicking himself for not just getting the information himself, it’s not like it was completely Noah’s fault for not asking him. He very well could have turned around and asked just as much as the taller man could’ve. But neither of them made a move, and weeks of restless nights went by before he read the article and saw the poster that morning.

He was shocked. Never in his life had he thought that someone would go through all of that to find him. Him, of all people. He didn’t think he was worth all of the trouble, but he was secretly thrilled that Noah felt that he was.

He came out of his thoughts and looked at the clock on his phone. Noah was twenty minutes late.

 _Not a big deal…he’s probably taking a long time to get ready. He didn’t even expect to go out somewhere!_

He was upset that he didn’t get to talk to Noah earlier on the phone, but his friend Gabe seemed incredibly nice, and Noah was glad that he had such a good friend around that cared about him. He practically set up the whole date up for them!

Time went by slowly, and he began to get more restless. Noah was almost forty minutes late now.

 _Did I get the place wrong? Or the time? No, I’m positive this is the place. There is no way I would let myself screw this up…_

“Excuse me,” a soft voice said suddenly, breaking him from his thoughts. He looked up to see a young waitress looking over him.

“Yes?”

“I was just wondering if you are still waiting for someone? Or if you would like to order?”

“Umm, no…I mean, yes, I am waiting for someone. And no I would like to wait for him to order. Actually…would you mind looking on the reservation list to see if there is a Noah Mayer on there?”

“Noah Mayer…the man from the newspaper?!” the young woman’s face lit up at the recognition of the name. “Are you…are you _him_?! Are you the man he is looking for?”

His cheeks flushed deeply and he ducked his head shyly.

“Yeah…” he smiled, thinking again about Noah. “I was supposed to meet him here about an hour ago, but I don’t know if he’s here or if he set a reservation and was seated somewhere else…”

“OH! No problem! I will go check for you!” she said with enthusiasm. “I can’t believe it’s you! I’ve been following the story the whole time! It’s so romantic…I’ve been hoping you guys would find each other!”

He just gave her a bright smile in response, and she quickly left the table and headed up for the host podium. He began to fiddle with his napkin to give him something to do. He could see people at surrounding tables look at him every once in a while. He could tell they were probably wondering why he has just been sitting there for almost an hour with no one accompanying him, or no food in front of him.

After a few moments, he saw the waitress walking over to his table again. But his heart sank when he saw the sad expression on his face.

“I’m sorry, sir. There is no reservation for a Noah Mayer.”

“Oh…” his shoulders slumped. “That’s okay.”

“Yeah, just because he doesn’t have a reservation doesn’t mean he won’t come. He told you he would, right?”

“Yeah, yeah you’re right. I hope so,” he smiled at her. “Thank you so much for checking. I’m sure he’ll be here any minute.”

+++++

He didn’t come.

He sat for almost another hour, before deciding that he wasn’t coming. Noah blew him off. And he didn’t understand why.

 _Why would he go through all of that trouble to find me, just to ditch me in the end? Why would he not come…?_

He fought to hold back the tears while he threw money down on the table and quickly left the table. He sent a short apology to the waitress for making her wait around for him, and she seemed genuinely concerned and broken-hearted over the whole thing.

She watched the blond man leave the restaurant, not catching his name, and sighed deeply. Call her a hopeless romantic, but she had great hope that their story would get a happy ending. She believed in love.

She walked over to the hostess podium to return a couple menus, and turned to whisper to the hostess.

“Oh man, Jenn…did you see that handsome man that just walked out?”

“Oh, you mean the blond who was sitting at fourteen by himself for almost two hours?” the red-headed hostess questioned back with slight annoyance in her voice. “The guy who was taking up a whole table without ordering anything and I had to make other parties wait on him? Yeah…I know who you are talking about.”

“Don’t be so hard on him,” the waitress told her. “ _That_ was the mystery man from the El train!”

“Get out! That was _him_?!”

“Yeah! And get this! He was supposed to meet Noah Mayer here, but he never showed!”

“What?! He ditched him? How could he?!?” her face that once held annoyance for the blond, now held anger toward the desperate man from the paper.

“Sad isn’t it? I really hoped they would make it…”

“Yeah, well…the blond is better off without a jerk like him. I mean, who would go through all of that trouble to find this guy, and then just embarrass him like that?”

“A jerk,” she answered immediately. She glanced to the entrance of the restaurant and a young couple just entered. “Well, gotta get back to work.”

Both girls returned to their respective jobs, completely unaware of the man from the newspaper sitting behind them who overheard every word…

+++++

Noah entered his apartment, threw his keys down on the coffee table, and shrugged off his coat. His meeting went as well as could have been expected, but he still hated being around the company bosses. Too many cocky personalities at one table for his liking. In some ways, he was flattered that he was invited, since that meant that he was starting to get recognition for his work at the company. But if getting a higher position meant having to constantly converse with these people, he would rather stay right where he was.

He walked into the living room and began to tug at his tie.

“Wow,” Gabe’s voice hit his ears. “I didn’t expect you to be home this early.”

“What do you mean?” Noah raised his eyebrows at him.

“I thought your date would last a lot longer,” Gabe shrugged. He then shut the TV off and threw down the remote with full intention of getting every single detail. “So…how was it?”

“It was hardly a date, Gabe,” Noah laughed. How he thought that a dinner with a bunch of uppity stiffs counted as a date, he didn’t know. “It’s not like I had a choice.”

“Yeah…sorry about that,” Gabe said, rubbing his neck. “But I thought that you would for sure want to see him since we’ve been looking all this time and he finally called…”

“What are you talking about?” Noah interrupted his best friend.

“What are you NOT talking about?” Gabe countered with a confused look that mirrored Noah’s.

“Okay, Gabe…back up just a second,” Noah said, closing his eyes. “Where did you get the idea that I was going on a date?”

“Umm, probably because I set it up for you, remember?”

Noah’s vacant expression answered for him.

“Come on, Noah! I already told you today! Remember? When I called you?” Noah’s still blank stare caused his stomach to flip upside down. “Oh no…oh no, Noah…don’t tell me you didn’t go!”

“Go where, Gabe? What the hell are you talking about?” Noah was angry now, and for some strange reason he felt that his world was going to fall out from under him any moment.

“The blond from the train! You were supposed to have a date with him tonight! When he called I…”

“Hang on, hang on…he called…and you set up a date with him…and you didn’t tell me?” Noah’s anger was steadily rising.

“I _did_ tell you, Noah! This afternoon! When I called you at work!”

“No you…” he began, but he wasn’t about to finish the thought. His mind immediately went back to earlier when he received the phone call from Gabe, and then his boss had walked in. He replayed the moment in his head, and full realization hit his features. “Oh no…”

His previous inclination that his world was ending was turning out to be true. The room around him began to spin and become blurry. This must have been a dream…he must have been asleep. He would have never allowed that misunderstanding to happen if he was awake. No, it was all a fear in his mind and any second now he would wake up in his bed and find out it was all just a big nightmare…

But when his stomach began to knot and his head began to pound, he knew he wasn’t asleep. The sensations were just too real, and if he didn’t know then, he definitely knew he was awake when he found himself emptying out the entire contents of his fancy dinner into the toilet moments later.

+++++

If Noah didn’t hate his commute home on the El before, he definitely did now. Being on this platform only reminded him of his many mistakes and what he had lost. If only he had the courage enough to get the man’s name and number weeks ago, none of this would have happened. He would never have hurt the blond like he assumed he must have last night.

He could still taste the faint hint of vomit in his mouth from the night before. He hadn’t been able to eat or drink anything since. After he’d completely emptied his stomach, he must have dosed off on the bathroom floor, because the next thing he knew, he was being gently awoken by Casey. Gabe must have explained everything to him because he didn’t ask him a single question. He just helped him off of the cold tile floor, gave him some water and aspirin, and helped him into his bed. And for this, he was eternally grateful.

Understandably, his dreary mood carried over into the current day, and he hadn’t been able to focus on a single thing at work. Every mock-up, every edit, every sketch just reminded him of the blond. He would close his eyes and all he saw was the man, each time his expression taking on more and more hurt and despair. Noah’s stomach clenched and his chest tightened at the image.

All day, he couldn’t escape him. He followed him everywhere, subsequently increasing Noah’s guilt with every step. Even now, on the train platform, he was standing several feet in front of him, waiting for the train – their train – his profile looking completely miserable.

Noah shook his head violently to get rid of the image, but when he opened his eyes again, the blond was still there. Why couldn’t he just go away and let him mourn his losses and wallow in the unfortunate consequences of his terrible mistake?

Suddenly, a man roughly pushed passed him, which brought his mind back to the present. He was about to scold the rude man walking away ahead of him, when a familiar head of blond hair caught his attention.

There he was. Standing there. Waiting for the train.

Real.

He wasn’t just a mind trick, the man whose presence Noah believed to just be imagining earlier was, very much in reality, right there.

The train was just pulling into the station when Noah started to move. His heart was beating a mile a minute as he hastily maneuvered between the people on the platform, never taking his eyes off of the gorgeous blond.

“HEY!” he screamed at him, cursing himself harder than ever before for not knowing his name.

The blond never heard him, as he continued to wait patiently until the current passengers exited the train. Noah was becoming frantic, as he realized he didn’t have much time to get to him before he boarded the train.

“HEY! WAIT!” he called again over the noise of the platform. The blond looked toward his voice and saw Noah running right to him. Noah watched as the man, without even acknowledging him, stepped into the train. His face fell at the man’s actions, but he continued to run toward the train. He started peering into the windows to find where he was sitting. He soon spotted him at a window seat and went up to it.

“Hey! It’s me!” he yelled through the window, lightly knocking against the glass.

The blond turned his head, and for a moment, he was reconnected with those beautiful brown eyes he thought he might never get to see again. But the emotion in them was different. Those eyes weren’t smiling, or gazing affectionately at him.

They were glaring at him.

And then suddenly they were gone, and giant, bold words had taken their place. It took Noah a moment to realize that the blond had held up a newspaper to the window.

**El Train Mystery Man Ditched by Love-Sick Loser**

Noah barely had time to comprehend the words before the train began to move, and he watched once again as the blond left his life for the second time.

+++++

Noah felt like he had been stabbed in the heart.

This wasn’t what he wanted. None of it. He thought by taking a chance and putting everything out there for love for the first time in his life, things would work out. But if he knew beforehand that the blond would end up hurt, he never would have gone through all the trouble. In fact, he’s pretty sure he would have done anything to make sure that his heart was protected and safe and happy.

Noah decided to forego his last train, and walk home to clear his head. On his way back to his apartment he passed by a corner store, where three newspaper machines stood out front. He paused and searched for the paper he was looking for, bought it, and began to walk again. As he began to read the article and walk at the same time, he was barely aware of all of the people he was constantly running into, and at this point he didn’t care.

He never thought it was possible to die from words, the old “sticks and stones” rhyme playing into his head, but he felt the knife pierce his heart deeper with every passing word on the page.

The article ridiculed him, and called him an “inconsiderate and selfish jerk who pulls men into his person with the hopes of embarrassing them by making them feel worthless in front of the entire population of Chi-Town”.

Tears leaked from his eyes as he ripped the thin recycled paper into shreds. He couldn’t read another word. It was through blurry eyes that he ran the rest of his way home, hoping to shut himself off from the rest of the world.

Climbing the stairs to his apartment, he received glaring looks from his neighbors, some of them holding the newspaper in their hands. He avoided their gazes, bile rising up in his throat, and pushed passed them toward his door. He fumbled slightly with his keys before finally managing to open his door. Upon entering his apartment he was greeted by Gabe and Casey, who were awkwardly sitting in their living room, as if they were just waiting for him to come home. He wondered how long they were sitting there, since his walk home made him about two hours late coming home. They didn’t say anything…they just stared at him.

Noah stood in front of his two best friends, and he knew they were waiting for him to say something first. He glanced down to the coffee table in front of the sofa, and was not surprised to see a copy of the newspaper spread out across the top.

“So…I, uh…see you’ve read it,” Noah whispered, gesturing lightly toward the paper. And just like Noah knew he would, he started the fire.

“Oh my God, Noah…” Casey spoke rising from the chair.

“That article is complete bull shit!” Gabe followed the blond.

“That guy doesn’t have a clue in hell who you really are!”

“He doesn’t even know the whole story…”

“He’s the real selfish jerk for making assumptions on two people’s love lives…”

“Guys, GUYS!” Noah stopped them, putting a hand on each man’s shoulder. “Just stop, okay? I know you are trying to make me feel better, but what’s done is done, and I can’t change it, and now I just want to move on with my life, alright?”

The two men looked on sadly as they watched their best friend sluggishly hang up his jacket and throw down his messenger bag on the floor by the recliner, before falling into it. He sighed heavily and began to massage his temples, tear stains still prominent on his face. Gabe and Casey slowly sat back down on the couch across from the recliner and carefully watched their best friend, the redness on his cheeks not going unnoticed.

“So how are you…really?” Casey asked tentatively.

“We understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but…”

“I saw him.”

“What?” Gabe and Casey said simultaneously.

“I saw him at the station.”

“And?” Casey pressed him.

“Case! If he doesn’t want to say anything…”

“He blew me off,” Noah interrupted. Both boys on the couch became quiet again as they waited for Noah to finish his story. “I saw him on the platform, and I tried to call out to him, but he didn’t hear me. I started to run after him, still calling out to him. He finally looked at me…and then he acted like I wasn’t even there. He got on the train, and I ran up to his window, and he just glared at me. And then he held up the article to the window…”

Noah trailed off as fresh tears silently fell from his eyes again.

“I never got the chance to apologize to him...”

“Noah, you still can,” Gabe said softly. “All you have to do is call up the newspaper and tell them about the misunderstanding.”

“Yeah, man,” Casey agreed. “It’s not the end, there is still a chance.”

“Guys, he doesn’t deserve some apology that he has to read in a newspaper!” Noah argued. “He deserves to hear it from me, I at least owe him that much! But now he won’t even talk to me.”

Gabe and Casey sat quietly again, watching Noah. It almost killed them to see their best friend practically fall apart in front of their eyes and not be able to fix it. They never felt so badly about his lack of a love life before this very moment.

“You want to know the worst part about all of this?” Noah suddenly asked them, his eyes averted to some unknown spot on the carpet. They continued to silently stare at him, empathy written on their faces. “I don’t even know his name…”

Both boys heard it. The unmistakable sound of Noah’s heart breaking as he said those words out loud. Casey and Gabe both stood and walked to where their broken friend was sitting. They calmly and soothingly each placed a hand on his back and began to rub comforting circles. Noah couldn’t remember a time when he was so grateful for having Casey and Gabe in his life, but that still didn’t stop him from wanting to disappear from the face of the planet for a little while.

“Noah…” he heard Casey whisper.

“No,” Noah stopped him, looking up from the floor and rising to his feet. “Please don’t say anything. I love you guys so much…but I need to get out of here.”

Casey and Gabe watched as Noah picked up his bag off the floor, grabbed his jacket and left their apartment. They looked at each other, knowing exactly where he was going.

“How long do you think he’ll be gone this time?” Casey asked, still looking at the closed front door. “Think we’ll see him tomorrow?”

“That depends,” Gabe answered, rubbing the back of his neck. “How much footage do you think he has that he feels the need to edit?”

+++++

Noah has locked himself in the editing room at work before. Countless times, in fact. One of his favorite things about working for his company was the use of personal editing rooms, where he was guaranteed to be alone for as long as he wished. He had turned it into his personal sanctuary for the past three years since he graduated and got the job here. It was just him, his footage, and a computer. He couldn’t think of anything better at the moment.

Well, that was a lie. But he wasn’t about to admit that to himself.

He glanced at the clock on the bottom corner of the computer. He had already been in the room for four hours, and was prepared to stay in there for as long as was needed. He stopped at a store before coming in to work and bought snacks and a couple bottles of water in case he finally felt the need to eat.

He conveniently turned off his phone, knowing that Gabe and Casey wouldn’t try and reach him. His best friends had grown accustomed to this behavior of his, and stopped worrying about him after about the fifth time, knowing he would come home eventually after sorting things out on his own.

He had tried to keep himself busy inside the room, but the truth was he didn’t have much to do. His latest commercial was still in the beginning stages of development, so he didn’t even have any footage to edit. He decided to look over commercials that other people had asked him to critique and give commentary, but that had taken only two hours to complete. So now he was reduced to surfing the internet and checking email, which was providing no comfort to the tall brunet.

He needed something to work on. He needed a project. He needed something to take over his mind so fully, that the image of the blond glaring at him would be purged from his memory forever. He just needed something to help him forget.

He decided to go through some of his old files on his laptop and delete some to make room on his hard drive. He was pleasantly surprised and slightly embarrassed by some of his old works. He found old animations from his high school 3-D animation class, some short films from college, and even some of his very first commercials from working at the company. He decided against just deleting them, and instead burned them onto a disc for the sake of posterity. Only when they were safely copied elsewhere did he remove them from his computer.

He went through file after file, copying and deleting, copying and deleting, and was surprised when he realized that he skipped over one. He opened the file, and watched as children began to sing a familiar tune to their parents while wandering through the grocery store. His heart sank at the memory of a gorgeous blond man revealing how he used to sing the catchy tune while shopping around in their favorite comic book store.

He smiled at the memory, as he was particularly proud of this commercial. He didn’t just design and direct it, he also helped write the song and cast the actors. He still considered it one of his best works to date, even if it was a silly little commercial. He was still very proud.

He couldn’t bring himself to delete this one, or make the move to copy it, so he left it alone on the computer. He sighed, thinking about how he wished he could once again make the blond happy like he did with this commercial. As corny as the thought was, it was true. He sighed once again thinking how this was probably the only way he would ever make the blond happy, since he knew he would never get to talk to him again. His commercials were the only thing of Noah’s he would probably ever see again.

Suddenly, as if a bolt of lightning shot through his body, he sat up in his chair. The electricity caused every single light bulb in Noah’s brain to go off, filling his head with image after colorful image. He saw the scene perfectly laid out. He could practically hear the words in his head. He could see it all, as if it was the most obvious solution…as if it was something that he should have thought of hours ago.

He quickly got to his feet and reached the closet in two strides. He pulled out a video camera and a tripod from the shelf and returned to his chair. Feeling alive and hungry for the first time in two days, he grabbed the small bag of trail mix he bought at the store and ripped it open. He stuck a handful in his mouth before high-tailing it out of the small editing room and into the slightly larger confines of his office.

Once inside, his camera was set up in a matter of seconds, sitting securely atop the perfectly positioned tripod. The lighting in his office was bright, and perfect for what he was planning to do. He checked himself in the small mirror on his desk, and after a few pulls through his hair, he thought he looked okay. He glanced at his outfit: ordinary black pants with a cream-colored shirt and a loose fitting red and black striped tie. He didn’t care if his pants were wrinkled after more than a day’s wear. He didn’t care that his collar wasn’t straight or firmly pressed against his neck. And he didn’t care that his tie was loose and slightly crooked. He didn’t want to change, wanting to be as much of himself in the video as possible.

After taking a few deep breaths and throwing up a silent prayer to the heavens, he hit record on the camera, and sat down in his desk chair.

This was the very last thing he had…the only thing he’d ever been confident about in his entire life. His creations, his art, all of the imaginings of his very soul being played out in the form of entertainment.

If this didn’t work, he would have nothing left. Strike three.

He took one final breath, looked straight into the camera, and began to speak.

+++++

He had had many cases of writer’s block before, and one would think that he would be used to it by now.

After writer’s camps in the summers, seminars in high school, classes and clubs in college, and now more classes and an internship in graduate school, he should have learned how to handle it by now.

But he hasn’t. Each bout of writer’s block was just as worst as the one before, and every time he thought of a new way to break the dam and allow the words to flow freely again, he found that it would only work once. He could never repeat the magic twice.

But he had to admit that this time around was a lot more frustrating than the others. This was his first case since he had met _him_. This was the first time since Noah had sang Al Green on the train that day that he hasn’t been able to form coherent thoughts into sentences on a page. And he blamed it all on _him_.

He was hurt, and felt slightly humiliated. Even though no one knew his identity, _he_ knew, and that was enough to want to crawl into a hole and have the world swallow him up. He wanted to hate him for what he did to him, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Sure, he was angry and upset, but he couldn’t turn those feelings into one of loathing. He tried desperately to, thinking that if he hated Noah, it would be easier to move on. But the more he tried, the more he thought about him, and the more he desired him.

He couldn’t get over the look Noah gave him from the platform the other day. Heck, his actions alone had confused him. Running after him like he did didn’t make sense. Someone who had just ditched him at a restaurant and embarrassed him in front of all of the people of Chicago wouldn’t have still tried to talk to him. The look in his eyes was pleading, and desperate, and, if he had read those blue orbs right, even a glint of hope was present.

 _Maybe Noah deserves another chance? Yeah, he hurt me…but why do I have this feeling that I’m missing something huge here? Why do I feel like if I just let him go, I will be making a gigantic mistake?_

He shook his head from his thoughts, and focused back on his computer screen. He heard the sounds of the television behind him, and smiled. He always flipped it on when he was writing in order to drown out the sound of his own disarrayed thoughts. That sound, currently a sitcom, filled the void that his mind usually held, but now that he needed to focus on the task at hand, he couldn’t afford to be distracted with thoughts of _him_.

He minimized his practically empty Word document on his screen, deciding instead to do some more research for his paper. If anything, the blond hoped it would get his mind going again and keep him busy.

About an hour later, the channel on the TV switched to the local news, and he noticed the change from the sitcom, but didn’t react. His mind was busy looking up websites and gathering information. He kept working diligently on recording his needed references and saving pages when a voice he thought he would never hear again filled his ears.

 _“Hello, Chicago…I’m Noah Mayer…”_

He quickly spun in his chair and gazed at the television screen. His eyes widened at the sight of him, looking like he hadn’t eaten or slept in days, with worn clothes and messy hair. The blond thought he looked just as good as the day he met him.

 _“I know many of you are probably really angry and upset at me after reading the latest article in the newspaper. But if you would be so kind as to let me explain myself, I would be eternally grateful for your kindness.”_

He could see in Noah’s eyes that he was being completely sincere, and sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his eyes, ready to listen to the man he was completely infatuated with.

 _“As I assume most of you know, about two months ago I met a man on a train heading home from work...”_

The blond’s heart started beating faster in his chest at the mention of their fateful meeting on the El that day.

 _“…and I can’t remember a time where I felt more connected to any human person in my whole life. I was mesmerized by him, and I felt extremely drawn to him.”_

He barely took his eyes off of the screen when he grabbed the remote to turn the volume up louder.

 _“As most of you also know…I haven’t been very lucky in love. Growing up, I was really shy, and whenever I met a girl, I would completely choke. I guess you could say I was a total loser when it came to dating or relationships…”_

The blond giggled slightly as he watched Noah smile shyly and look down from the camera.

 _“But then I met the man from the train, and something inside me snapped. A voice in my head told me that I couldn’t let this one get away, and I had to do whatever I could to find him. So, very uncharacteristically of me, I made hundreds of posters, and with the help of my two best friends, I hung them up all over Chicago.”_

The man smiled slightly as he looked over at the poster that he found on a lamp post and stole that was taped to the wall above his desk.

 _“After a couple of weeks, I was given an offer to do an interview for a newspaper. I was hesitant at first, but when I realized that it could possibly help me find him, I jumped on the chance.”_

The blond glanced to the left of the poster on the wall, and his eyes settled on various newspaper clippings of articles about himself.

 _“After weeks of silence and false alarms, I lost hope that I would ever see the blond man again. So I buried myself into my work. I was completing assignments in record time, and finishing deals, and creating designs…all in hopes that if I was focused enough on my work, then my hope would remain alive.”_

The blond knew all about that type of distraction as well…thinking about these past months where his thoughts of Noah were used as a creative outlet for his writing.

 _“Then one day my boss enters my office, and tells me that some executives from corporate are impressed and interested with my work and invite me to have dinner with them. Little did I know that my mystery man had finally called and set up a date with my best friend…”_

The blond’s eyes grew bigger at the realization of Noah’s words. He rose from the chair and crawled across the floor to sit in front of the television.

 _“Somehow our signals were crossed, and as all of you know…I never made it to the restaurant to meet him.”_

The man watched as Noah’s eyes became glossy before they were downcast.

 _“I got home late from my dinner meeting, only to then find out from my best friend what had happened, completely unawares by me. Everything was a big misunderstanding, and because of that, I hurt a man I deeply care for…”_

The blond’s heart pounded against the inside of his chest at the declaration from Noah.

 _“I know a lot of you are disappointed in me, the man from the train especially, so I understand if you aren’t willing to listen and believe what I have to say…”_

He listened as Noah’s voice became softer, yet steadier, as if he truly meant what he said.

 _“But please believe that I apologize for everything that happened, and if I could go back and do things differently, I would never have disappointed or upset the people of the city the way that I have…”_

His eyes dropped to the floor again, and he took a deep breath, obviously preparing for what he was about to say next.

 _“And to the man from the train…”_

His head rose up again and looked into the camera, but the blond could have sworn he was looking right at him.

 _“I am so, so incredibly sorry for what I put you through. I am sorry if my misgivings have humiliated you, and hurt you. But please give me one final chance to make it up to you…”_

He felt a small tear trickle down his cheek, and sat up straighter, ready to listen.

 _“As you probably have already figured out, I would do just about anything to see you again. But I understand if, after everything that happened, you want nothing to do with me anymore. But if you are willing to give me another shot, I would be eternally grateful.”_

He wiped away another tear from his face as he continued to listen to Noah’s soft and pleading voice.

 _“Please meet me at our stop, tomorrow at 7pm, if you are willing to give me another chance.”_

His heart jumped from his chest to his throat at the thought of seeing Noah again face-to-face tomorrow.

 _“So, once again, I am really sorry for everything that happened, and thank you so much for listening to me and allowing me a chance to apologize and give my side of the story. Thank you, Chicago. Goodnight.”_

And with that, Noah’s face faded away, and the screen was brought back to the faces of the two news anchors sitting at their desks. Their voices were lost to him though, as he sat on the floor in a daze, tears spilling from his eyes. He laid back to stare at the ceiling, thinking of what he was going to do.

 _He seemed so sad, and so sincere. And he didn’t hurt me on purpose…it was all a misunderstanding. I can’t believe he made that video to be aired in front of the whole city! All for me…_

Suddenly, he felt it. The break of the dam in his mind. He watched as words upon words flashed before his red, puffy eyes. He jumped up from the floor, ran to his desk, and began to type furiously.

He now knew what to do.

+++++

It was quarter after seven.

He wasn’t coming.

Noah had been standing on the platform of their stop for thirty minutes, surrounded by an endless amount of reporters and citizens who were dying to catch a glimpse of the elusive “El Mystery Man”. He felt a little uncomfortable about all of these strangers watching him and waiting, but he knew he had to get through it. He had come this far, and he wasn’t backing down now. The blond was worth it all: all of the posters, and interviews, and false dates, and scandals. He knew it was all worth it if only for the stranger.

But all of this fighting would be meaningless if he didn’t come, and now as the clock was approaching twenty minutes after, he began to lose hope.

Noah could hear the reporters’ stories about his apparent failure, and people all around him were murmuring their disappointments and starting to leave. The people had lost hope for him, and Noah was starting to agree with them.

He had made a mistake, one that the blond had obviously chosen not to forgive him for. He had finally taken a risk in regards to his love life, and all of his efforts just crashed and burned all around him. He took a chance on love, and now here he stood, alone on a platform. He couldn’t help but think that maybe this was how his life was supposed to be lived. Without love. Alone.

He sighed and looked down at his feet. He had already decided he would wait on this platform for as long as it took, but he was starting to feel his resolve break. What was the point if he was just meant to be alone for the rest of his life anyway?

Suddenly, a familiar tune broke through his thoughts. He thought he just imagined it at first, but after closing his eyes and shaking his head, he realized that the music was still there. He looked up and noticed that everyone else could hear the song, too.

But it wasn’t just any song, it was _their_ song. The Al Green song he embarrassingly sang out loud on the train that day. It was the song the stranger had teased him about in the beginning. And it was the song that displayed every emotion he had been feeling his entire life…he was so tired of being alone…

His heart raced as he looked up to find the source of the music. The crowd seemed to think that something was about to happen, as well. Their whispers turned more urgent and they were starting to gather around him again.

Noah began to frantically search through the crowd for messy blond hair. This song playing wasn’t just a coincidence. He was here…he had to be.

His eyes scanned and searched and finally landed on the platform bridge, where his blue orbs locked with chocolate brown.

He came.

The blond was absolutely beaming at him as he was leaning over the railing of the bridge, the same one they had talked on that day. Noah couldn’t see his own smile, but he knew it must have been a cross between extreme relief and delirious happiness.

The crowd full of people must have noticed the connection and followed the brunet’s gaze to the bridge. When they spotted the blond, they began gasping and pointing. Their previous whispers turned into shouts of awe and delight, but Noah didn’t hear or see any of it. His ears only heard the soulful voice of The Reverend, and his eyes were completely transfixed on the man of his dreams standing before him on the bridge.

His legs seemed to be moving of their own accord as he began to get closer to the blond, never once removing his eyes from his handsome face. Reporters and cameramen followed him closely as he ascended the bridge, finally reaching the blond. Noah knew they must have been going crazy over this turn of events in his story, but he didn’t care. He barely even registered their presence. He was too concerned about the man standing before him, smiling.

He had gone over this moment in his head and had dreams about it for weeks since he started his search. He imagined every look being shared, every word spoken, every touch experienced, every emotion felt…but none of his scenarios even compared to the real thing. This was everything he ever wanted, and he was determined to not screw this one up. He had to.

The blond meant too much to lose again.

Noah closed the distance between them slowly, enjoying the sight of the man’s smile.

 _He’s smiling for me…I’m doing that._

When he was finally within inches of the blond’s presence, he couldn’t wait any longer and finally said the words he should have said weeks ago on this very platform.

“Two questions...” he began, holding up two fingers between them. “What is your name…and can I please have your phone number?” When the words were out, he sighed, and relaxed into the blond’s presence. His part was over. Finally.

“Luke…and I thought you’d never ask!”

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Noah’s neck. Noah’s arms encircled Luke’s waist, and as their lips met for the first time, the crowd of witnesses erupted into loud cheers and applause. Noah pushed all of his feelings into that kiss. A kiss that simultaneously said “I’m so sorry for being so stupid before” and “I’m so glad I finally found you”. And by the way Luke’s lips responded, Noah knew that not only had he forgiven him, but that he also felt the same way.

They pulled apart and their foreheads rested against each other. Both of their smiles were so bright, they could have lit up the whole of Chicago themselves. The world seemed to dissolve around them, and as far as they were concerned, they were the only two people standing on that bridge.

Noah leaned forward and kissed him again, his heart swelling at the thought of how his luck had finally changed. He had taken a chance, put his heart on the line for love, and in return, he got this. He got Luke.

And from this moment on, when it came to Luke, Noah would gladly risk everything he had. Luke was his life now, and he wasn’t afraid…not anymore.

 

END


End file.
